BermanBraun in League with Pepsi
Hollywood veterans Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman’s multi-platform production company hasn’t made any content yet, but it’s busy signing deals. Pepsi has signed on for the chance to fund and sponsor BermanBraun web projects, according to Variety and Kara Swisher. BermanBraun also has a first-look deal for television content with NBC Universal.
The Pepsi deal sounds kind of sleazy, honestly. “[W]e’ll work with Pepsi hand-in-hand to bake new kinds of ad solutions right in organically at the earliest possible moment,” Braun told Swisher. “We want to be part of the DNA of a show from the very beginning,” added Russell Weiner, vice president of marketing for colas at Pepsi-Cola North America.
Braun had most recently been head of Yahoo’s media group and Berman had been president of Paramount, both leaving in management shakeups. Braun had also cut a deal with Pepsi while at Yahoo to sponsor its somwhat lame video show The 9. Since it announced itself at the beginning of this year, BermanBraun has hired NBC and WB execs.
While the Pepsi deal is not huge in the grand scheme of things, we’re always interested to see what people with Hollywood cred think is internet content done right. And of course we’re paying special attention to the intersection of video content and advertising, the theme of our live event in San Francisco next Tuesday.
Recent
GigaOM Network
Copyright 2001–2008 Giga Omni Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Powered by WordPress.com. Marketing consulting by ACS.
[...] he has set-up with Gail Berman. Liz isn’t too impressed, and you can read her take over on NewTeeVee. Share This | Sphere | Print | Topic: Shorts, Media [...]
GigaOM Return of Lloyd Braun « on July 18th, 2007 at 5:07 pm - Permalink
I feel ashamed to be in marketing when a peer uses the phrase ‘We want to be in the DNA of XYZ’.
I think the perfect fluffy tagline for this venture would be ‘talk is cheap.’
Matt Harwood on July 18th, 2007 at 6:56 pm - Permalink
[...] feeling of distaste was articulated by Liz Gannes of NewTeeVee, who wrote that the Pepsi deal “sounds kind of sleazy, [...]
More on Chatty Marketing…Blah, Blah, Blah | BoomTown | Kara Swisher | AllThingsD on July 19th, 2007 at 4:57 am - Permalink
Lest we forget Old TeeVee, please recall that the first shows were created by the sponsors, which is why we still call them “Soap Operas.” So, Pepsi being involved at the early stages of creative development is, in fact, a return to TV’s roots. For better or worse.
Dave Andersen on July 19th, 2007 at 7:04 am - Permalink
The King Biscuit Flower Hour has a new sponsor. This is radio .9, not Web 2.0.
Nothing new here, keeping moving along.
Da Truff on July 19th, 2007 at 12:34 pm - Permalink
Great! Now producers can start whoring themselves to corporate sponsors even before they decide which old TV show or movie the are going to remake…
Anonymous Douche on July 19th, 2007 at 12:36 pm - Permalink
[...] on new companies, shut down some minor projects, shaken up the sales staff, and gotten rid of Lloyd Braun and a bunch of other [...]
Yahoo & Yang’s 100-Day Report Card « GigaOM on September 28th, 2007 at 3:28 pm - Permalink